Curious to see if you think double the price ends up yielding double the sound quality.

I have both XBA-40 and CKN50. The sound quality of CKN50 isn't too far behind XBA-40 IMO. If the CKN70's SQ is a step above CKN50, it might overtake even the XBA-40's SQ lol. Can't wait to get my hands (and ears) on a CKN70.

What is lacking in the ckn50s SQ? In comparison. Just curious what the 70s would need to make up.

I find the bass of the CKN50 slightly 'thin'. The XBA-40's bass has more body and is more impactful. The CKN50 is also slightly sibilant, while there is no sibilance on the XBA-40 at all. I prefer the mids of the CKN50 over the XBA-40 though, the vocal seems livelier in the CKN50.

Meng and i thought i be trolling, these namebrands and their micro driver iems be trollin' like a felon. I guess its true that there can never be a "perfect" iem or headphone cuz these companies always like to troll us with something. Guess that's how they make their dough.$$$$$

Hmmm, you learn something new everyday, never knew that about dogs. Well i guess now you have a even better excuse to keep them new audio gears rolling in so you can make that lil' "sniffer" boss of yours happy.

Great to hear that harshness/ sibilance goes away after such a short amount of burn-in. Man ATH is heading at the right direction in sonic speed this year. Crazy!!!

Sorry, you forgot TDK ! ...I'm really impressed with some of their lower end iems which got me itching to try out their flagship models.

Sorry for not sharing this earlier, I got them at a local sale for $19 (US$15) some 2 months back and I consider the CLEF-R TH-EC200 the sidegrade of the SHE3580. where the SHE3580 has a U shape signature, emphasized bass and trebles, the EC200 got a balanced signature, slightly forward mids with natural highs, Bass response can be quite impactful when the track calls for it.

I'm so impressed with it for classical, R&B as well as Pop I went back to the store and bought 3 more. I didn't think they would be newsworthy here till this evening when I noticed my 12 year old bringing her EC200 along for a family outing (she has SHE3580 and FX40) when I asked her why she didn't bring her other iems along her reply "This one sounds better and clearer".

It was then that I realised that the EC200 is the Philips 3580 for people who love vocal clarity.

What is lacking in the ckn50s SQ? In comparison. Just curious what the 70s would need to make up.

Lol, there is nothing lacking in the CKN50, it's a pretty impressive iem but next to a CKN70 the bass doesn't seems as tight or go as deep, vocals are more emotive in the CKN70, both have pretty similar trebles.

I'm coming up to the 40 hrs burning mark on both, I have to admit that I'm spending more listening time with the CKN70, it just that bit more immersing. Tomorrow, I'll start A/Bing with my FXD80, FXZ100/200, CKM500.

If I have the time, I'll also A/B the CKN50 against the MH1C, CKM300 and GR02 BE which if memory serve me correctly are in the same sonical range.

Dsnuts, I thank you for those impressions on the SOMIC EFI-82 MT. That is exactly what I needed. I was suspicious that your long silence meant that they did not cut it for you. You try to be polite not only with people, but also with headphones. HA, HA. No need to be polite with headphones. That keeps valuable information from being shared.

Cash's reply to your impressions is the reason why I offered to pay $10 (and a little more if needed) for him to send them to DannyBai (or you as well) for a listening test. I wanted you to listen exactly to the same sound he was listening to. Please, let us know if your official impressions (the ones just written on post #7317) still stand after having your Somics set up exactly the way Cash has his. If you have to re-listen for some time because the change in SQ happens to be significant, we will be happy to wait for your second official impressions. I don't want to spend $400 in a pair of headphones, if a $65 pair can sound as good. But, if that does not happen, I will end up having more enjoyment with a lesser investment in the long run, shooting high once and for all, instead of climbing a headphone ladder for which I have already built some rungs (steps). I see that as a waste of time and money.

Hey guys, here is a word of wisdom: $200+ audio gear beats the stuff out of $50+ audio gear. Skip the $50+ gear and save up for the $200+ gear if you don't have the money right now. It pays. If you have the money, don't feel sorry for your wallet and stop reading this post and go and get some dream gear right away, be it $200+ or higher ($1000+!) if you can afford it without dishonoring money obligations. Every minute that you wait, is a wasted minute of enjoyment. Money is a renewable resource. Time isn't. We have been blessed with audio technology and we only live once. Money is your servant, not your master. HA, HA.

with certain things, I agree with Alberto. I started with a dac/amp fiio e10 less than 3 or 4 months ago and i'm on my 3 or 4th. I think i'll stick with the e17 since it's portable and get a desktop dac. happy with the o2 as an amp and that can power even the lcd2s to some degree. I think my end game is around 400 - 800 for hps. like the hifiman he400 or 500 and modi or explorer for a dac to go with the o2. once I get that, i'll del my acct to here and stay far away. lol

Hey guys, here is a word of wisdom: $200+ audio gear beats the stuff out of $50+ audio gear. Skip the $50+ gear and save up for the $200+ gear if you don't have the money right now. It pays. If you have the money, don't feel sorry for your wallet and stop reading this post and go and get some dream gear right away, be it $200+ or higher ($1000+!) if you can afford it without dishonoring money obligations. Every minute that you wait, is a wasted minute of enjoyment. Money is a renewable resource. Time isn't. We have been blessed with audio technology and we only live once. Money is your servant, not your master. HA, HA.

Well i agree with you to a certain degree that playing around in the budget-fi arena is a "waste of money and time," but isn't the journey not the destination is what counts??? How can you know or discover your ideal/ fav sound siggy if you just go straight to the top and end it there? A lot of head-fiers are noobs like me, so many have no idea what great sounding gears are or what the proper terms that are use to describe sound are. Playing around with budget-fi gives you lots of opportunities to learn mods/ discover what you truly want out of you audio gears. So when you finally do get that shiny $$$ set of dream cans, you will appreciate them that much more, no??? Where's the fun in going straight to the top from the start, if you don't learn/ pick up some tricks along the journey youknowhatimeng! Well that was just my cheap @ss talking so don't mind me, just trying to make excuses for myself to stay cheap.

Hey guys, here is a word of wisdom: $200+ audio gear beats the stuff out of $50+ audio gear. Skip the $50+ gear and save up for the $200+ gear if you don't have the money right now. It pays. If you have the money, don't feel sorry for your wallet and stop reading this post and go and get some dream gear right away, be it $200+ or higher ($1000+!) if you can afford it without dishonoring money obligations. Every minute that you wait, is a wasted minute of enjoyment. Money is a renewable resource. Time isn't. We have been blessed with audio technology and we only live once. Money is your servant, not your master.

Here's where I'm going to have to disagree.

In this crazy world of OEMs, new and emerging companies, MSRPs, liquidation, marketing and price gouging, cost cannot be equated to quality anymore.

I'll give you an example. An OEM called Yoga made a headphone called the CD-880 a while back. Many companies bought this headphone and rebranded it. Fischer called it the FA-003 and charged about $200 for it. Brainwavz called it the HM5 and charged about $120 for it. Jaycar Electronics called it the DigiTech Pro Monitor and charged $60 for it. With this many links in the chain, we really don't know what we're getting anymore.

While there may be $200 equipment, there is no such thing as a $200 sound. People pay $200 for everything from M50s to M80s to AD900Xs to DT770s to SR225s to HM5s to 840s to HD 580s. Certainly, these headphones cannot be lumped together as having one homogeneous $200 sound, as they all sound incredibly different.

It even occurs at the high end. Many people report favoring the HD600 to the HD700. Are they wasting their time for not saving up for the $1000 gear?

Is there a correlation between spending more and getting more? Certainly. If there wasn't, this industry would be very broken. But, correlation does not equal causation, and as such, spending $200 on a piece of equipment doesn't immediately make it better than a piece of $50 equipment.

In confusing the economic value of equipment with the sonic value of equipment, a very important question is raised.

Are we here to spend the most money, or are we here to experience the best sound?

If the later option is our true goal, we will have a much easier time achieving this if we disenthrall ourselves from the illusion that spending more money is the easiest way to reach fulfillment.

Hey guys, here is a word of wisdom: $200+ audio gear beats the stuff out of $50+ audio gear. Skip the $50+ gear and save up for the $200+ gear if you don't have the money right now. It pays. If you have the money, don't feel sorry for your wallet and stop reading this post and go and get some dream gear right away, be it $200+ or higher ($1000+!) if you can afford it without dishonoring money obligations. Every minute that you wait, is a wasted minute of enjoyment. Money is a renewable resource. Time isn't. We have been blessed with audio technology and we only live once. Money is your servant, not your master. HA, HA.

Well i agree with you to a certain degree that playing around in the budget-fi arena is a "waste of money and time," but isn't the journey not the destination is what counts??? How can you know or discover your ideal/ fav sound siggy if you just go straight to the top and end it there? A lot of head-fiers are noobs like me, so many have no idea what great sounding gears are or what the proper terms that are use to describe sound are. Playing around with budget-fi gives you lots of opportunities to learn mods/ discover what you truly want out of you audio gears. So when you finally do get that shiny $$$ set of dream cans, you will appreciate them that much more, no??? Where's the fun in going straight to the top from the start, if you don't learn/ pick up some tricks along the journey youknowhatimeng! Well that was just my cheap @ss talking so don't mind me, just trying to make excuses for myself to stay cheap.

What you say does not disagree much with what I wrote. $200+ audio gear is still a budget-fi arena compared to everything that you can get. Starting at that level or spending little in the $50+ zone and going quickly into the $200+ zone is gonna be much more rewarding than spending lots of money and time (years!) at the $50+ zone. Also, you can always come back to that zone whenever you want. I doubt you will want to do much at the $50+ zone once you get a pair of jewels at the $200+ zone. This is more meaningful to those who have the means to get $200+ stuff, but feel (or think) that it is unfair to spend so much on audio gear. What's funny about that is that if someone spends a lot of money on $50+ stuff, that means that they have a love for quality audio and will end up spending a lot of money searching for it in a zone where their ears will always be asking for more. So, sfwalcer if you don't have money for anything above the $50+ zone, then that is your only choice. There is some quite enjoyable stuff on that level. But, if you have it or can save enough through a semester or a year to get $200+ stuff, the superior ear satisfaction is worth the wait and/or the abstinence that you have to go through. HA, HA. I hope that the Somic EFI-82 MT prove me wrong or become the exception. HA, HA. Let's see what Dsnuts writes in his second official impressions on those Somics.

Hey guys, here is a word of wisdom: $200+ audio gear beats the stuff out of $50+ audio gear. Skip the $50+ gear and save up for the $200+ gear if you don't have the money right now. It pays. If you have the money, don't feel sorry for your wallet and stop reading this post and go and get some dream gear right away, be it $200+ or higher ($1000+!) if you can afford it without dishonoring money obligations. Every minute that you wait, is a wasted minute of enjoyment. Money is a renewable resource. Time isn't. We have been blessed with audio technology and we only live once. Money is your servant, not your master.

Here's where I'm going to have to disagree.

In this crazy world of OEMs, new and emerging companies, MSRPs, liquidation, marketing and price gouging, cost cannot be equated to quality anymore.

I'll give you an example. An OEM called Yoga made a headphone called the CD-880 a while back. Many companies bought this headphone and rebranded it. Fischer called it the FA-003 and charged about $200 for it. Brainwavz called it the HM5 and charged about $120 for it. Jaycar Electronics called it the DigiTech Pro Monitor and charged $60 for it. With this many links in the chain, we really don't know what we're getting anymore.

While there may be $200 equipment, there is no such thing as a $200 sound. People pay $200 for everything from M50s to M80s to AD900Xs to DT770s to SR225s to HM5s to 840s to HD 580s. Certainly, these headphones cannot be lumped together as having one homogeneous $200 sound, as they all sound incredibly different.

It even occurs at the high end. Many people report favoring the HD600 to the HD700. Are they wasting their time for not saving up for the $1000 gear?

Is there a correlation between spending more and getting more? Certainly. If there wasn't, this industry would be very broken. But, correlation does not equal causation, and as such, spending $200 on a piece of equipment doesn't immediately make it better than a piece of $50 equipment.

In confusing the economic value of equipment with the sonic value of equipment, a very important question is raised.

Are we here to spend the most money, or are we here to experience the best sound?

If the later option is our true goal, we will have a much easier time achieving this if we disenthrall ourselves from the illusion that spending more money is the easiest way to reach fulfillment.

This does not disagree with what I just said. It is obvious that you can get $50+ gear that can sound equal or better than $200+ gear. But, if you find $200+ gear that sounds equal to or almost equal to $400+ gear, your ears will be much happier on that equation than on the lower level zone. Remember that you said that you agreed with me that our ears do not work with the "good for the money" approach? See here at the end of your post:

So, I am not saying that everything on the $200+ zone is worth it and that everything there will be better than anything on the $50+ zone (EFI-82 MT?). What I am saying is that $200+ zone is quite richer in gems and treasures than the $50+ zone.

Hi-if saving money is the goal, skipping the $50-$150 hp's makes sense if you keep getting "upgraditis" in the same value range. On the other hand, I find it fun to try out different sound signatures, experiment, and hear what different approaches offer in sonics (and love a good bargain). Also, even if you spend $1,000, I don't think there is a "perfect" headphone. I haven't heard them, but from posts, the top of the line Senn's, AT, HiFiMan, and others don't sound the same, so it's not like you jump into the expensive stuff, and you automatically are in headphone nirvana...you can still have upgraditis, maybe like a planar better than a driver based,feel you made the wrong choice, maybe wind up with both.

Having said all that, I have a few AT phones...CKN50 (I think), M50's, A700, ES7 (not to mention the other things I read about here and on the Deals thread, JVC 80 and 500 on ear, Sony XBA-3/MH1C, Senn 650's, Westone 3 and 4's, HF-2, and a bunch more, getting too tired to list). Curioius about the AT's-people who've heard the older ones, such as the ones I have, and the newer ones, how do they compare (I saw Dsnuts' post that the midrange is better on the newer models, any more details or opinions out there? Even though the journey is fun, as I mentioned, I also only have so much time to listen/compare, and as they start to pile up (I haven't come close to going through the whole list), you lose the ability to do comparisons at any length, becomes too much to sort out in available time. Do I need new AT iem's? (of course I don't, but will they be more enjoyable listening?). Is it worth jumping onto the AT bandwagon?

I feel that with budget-fi, it is more accessible to more ppl but the return of investment is pretty much nil. if you dabble in $100-200 hps, you can make a lot of it back. An example, monoprice dj hps, cheap and isn't worth reselling because shipping is almost half the cost of a new pair, if you don't like it, it's a loss of 30. I bought a pair of senn hd25-1 ii, didn't like the sound so I sold them and made back all my money. so it was like a free loaner. budget-fi has a low to nil resale factor unless you offload them during the hype train is going. after that, you're stuck with them

Another example is I picked up a pair of ath a500s that I didn't like. left them in a drawer for years. just found them a few months ago and sold them for about 70% of what I paid. I don't forsee someone rebuying the superluxs and somics unless it was super cheap.